Process of treating grain.



No. 761.445. u PATLNTLD` MAY 31', 1904.

H. J. CALDWELL @L J. R. BARR.

PRUGESS OP 'TRBATING GRAIN. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 25. 1904.

NO MODEL. CQ 2 BT -SHEETI I i Il 1f.

'RRTRRTRD MAY 31, 1904.

H. J. CALDWELL a J. R. BARR. PROCESS 0R TRRATING GRAIN.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.'25, 1904.

2 SHBETSf-SHEET Z.

No no DRL.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY J.. c ALnu-*ELL AND JAMES 1i.. BARR, or nAnLPAnK, iNnrANA.

P RooEss oF TFxEATlNGGRAIN. i

sPEcIFicA'rroN form'ingpart of Letters Patent N'o. 761,445, dated May 31, 1904.

Application filed January 25, 19,04.

, To a/Z whom, it may concern/5,

Be it-kn'own that we, HARRY. J. CALDWELL and JAMES R. BARR, citizens of -the United States, residing at Earlpark, in the county of Benton and State of Indiana, have invented.

certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Treating Grains, of which the following 1s a specification. i

.Our invention'relates to improvements upon the `processes'heretofore in vogue in the treatment ofdlscollored, musty,smutty, and otherwise damaged or u nmarketable grains, which ,may be improved by subjection to sulfurous' or like fumes.

The object of ourv invention @is to more effectively'and economically treat .grains with a minimum of -Wasteof materials used, with no danger from fire, with an' absoluteavoid'- ance' of all danger ."of overheating-the grain,

, provided with deflecting-shelves Band with and so as toobtain the desired-...result swithout injuring the quality of the grainl'either as 1 apparatus suitable for practicing our improved process, and Fig; 2 is a plan view of the same. v

Like letters of reference indicate the same partsin both figures ofthe drawings,

- Referring by letter to fthe accompanying drawings, A indicates a stack of a suitable and familiar type, although it is not ,essentialY the practice of our .process that a stack of this form be .used or that the grain be treated Whilemoving. This stackconsists, essentially,

of a vertical shaft, which may, if desired, beI

any Suitable-means (not shown)'for,dir ecting grain into the upper part `of the stackand for the stack.

permitting the escape or vent of the fumes or closed stack. aA C'isthe outlet-chute-,landfD isavsuitable Aslidelfor controlling the fescape of grain from Itshould be understood, however,

that our Api ocesscan be used in the treatment Y,

vapor` from the upper part of the otherwise Serial No'. 190,601. l(No `specimensd of grains whether fallingthrough'a stack or confined in any othersuitablc receptacle.

. E serves merelyto indicate roughly a familiar form of furnace for generating sulfur fumes. Although we prefer to furnishtlie sulfuil fumes by'generating them in this inanner, ourprocess is not limited thereto.

' F indicates a suitable conduit with damper or valvef, leading from the sulfur-furnace to the induction pipe or port of afan Gr. The.

conduit F is provided with one or more ports H L-thro'ugh which atmospheric air can be admitted in controllable` quantities to-be governed by .the operation of the dampers J. Leading from the fan G is a conduit or eduction-pipe K, which terminates in a submerged nozzle l: within the tank L. I p

Water is supplied to the tank in any suitble manner-as, for instance, by means of an levated reservoir M, from which a pipe m leadsvto the tank L, the ioW of water from Athe pipe M into the tank L being? controlled in. a familiar manner by a float-valve N. AThe sulfur fumes or amixture of fumes and air, as thefcase may be,I forced by the fan G through the pipe K'and through .the nozzle '7c rise through the water in the tank L,"there by impregnating the water in said tank with the sulfur-fumes,-forming a diluted sulfurous acid or a solution of sulfurous acid. The

fumes which are not absorbed by the water in the tank L"will rise and are forced through sired diluted by the =admission of atmospheric l air through the ports H and I and are conducted into the stack. A. Lt will thus be seen that the fumes conducted into the stack A A ha'vcbeenso cooled that all danger of fire and allfdanger of heating the grain are eliminated, .and all possibility-bf fire being transmitted from the furnace or conduit pipe'to the grain `or grain-casing has also been eliminated. 1t

is well understood in this art that in order yto obtain the most effective results the grain must be superlicially moistened before the sulfur fumes or the sulfur applied to the surface of the grain 'will satisfactorily act thereon for the purpose of restoring the color and natural condition of the grain.

It is commonly stated that the grain must be lirst moistened and then subjected to the action ofthe sulfur, whether in the form of fumes or otherwise; but in actual practice it matters little, if any, whether the mistening element is admitted to the treating-chamber at a point above, on a plane with, or below the point at which the sulfur fumes are admitted, for the reason that after the apparatus is fairly in operation the entire interior 'of the treating-chamber becomes filled with a heavy humid atmosphere carrying a substantially homogeneous mixture of fine spray or vapor and sulfurous fumes.

In the drawings we have shown a convenient arrangement in which the moisteningjet is admitted to the treating-stack alongside of the port for the admission o f the sulfurous fumes.

In order to most eiiicientlyutilize the sulfur and also to most effectively and rapidly treat the grain, we conduct live steam from the boiler through a pipe I), which is controlled by a valve Q, into a nozzle R, which i discharges into the interior of ,the stack A,

and with water from-the tank L (or other` source) admitted at the same point the steam serves to reducel the water to a spray as it is thrown onto the grain.'

In order to supplysuiiicient moisture, we may provide any suitable means-as, for instance, a'force-pump Se-for withdrawing from the tank L the water which is more or less permeated with the sulfurous fumes and for conducting this sulfur-impregnated water to a point adjacent to the steam-jet, escaping from the pipe P. The steam-jet creates Ia forced draft through the treating-chamber A and injects' and sprays into the treating-chamber A the water supplied through the'pipe I from the tank L, the water at the same time serving to condense and cool the steam, so that the moisture which is supericially applied to the grain to be treated is itself in the form of a weak solution pf sulfurou'sacid which of'tself has bleaching qualities. The steam is cooled as ite-nters the treating-chamber, and at the same time the steam serves to create a forced draft and to carry the supply of fumes and moisture upward through the chamber and out through any suitablevent provided therefor. Meanwhile the ioaiwalve N serves to maintain the desired level of wat er within the tank `L.` Vhile thisasa preferred way of practicing our process "nevertheless it is not essential thatthe waterfrom the tank L be used. For example, we may rely upon the normal condensation of the steamiet to provide. moisturc,or we may admitl air through the pipe U, which communicates withthe nozzle R and is controlled by the valve V, 4or we may apply moisture in any'other manner. In that event we still attain all of the advantages which arise from cooling the sulfurous fumes by passing them through a comparatively cool fiuid. On the other hand, the separate steamjet is non-essential, for by continuously heating the water in the'tank Las, for instance, by passing'the heated fumes therethroughvapor will be generated and rising with the fumes through the pipe O will enter 'the stack and furnish sufficient moisture for the purposes of our process. Such vapor can never greatly exceed 212 Fahrenheit in temperature and will rapidly condense as it enters the stack A.

As previously stated, although we have shown in the drawings one suitable form of apparatus with which our improved practice may be operated, it should be noted that the grain may be confined in any suitable manuel' so as to be subjected to the action of moisture and the sulfurous fumes, any suitable means may be utilized for spraying the grain, and any suitablemeans may be utilized for preparing or treating water before it is applied as a moistening element to the surface of the grain.,

lVith the particular apparatus shown it will be noted, however, that a suitable metallic fan may be utilized for driving the fumes or fumes and air mixed. The fumes are quickly and effectively cooled, the bleaching action ofthe sulfurous element begins as soon the moisture is applied to the grain, and the actual fumes applied to the grain may beso diluted that there will be little or no waste of the treating materials. Again, sulfurous fumes, whether pure or mixed with air, are hot or warm, las

mined by the amount of air mixed .with the fumes. Now these fumes, clear or mixed with air,` when forced through a iuid element will mechanically take up some of the fluid element and carry it to the grain to be treated.

If the iuid element is heated sufIiciently by the fumes' passing through it orheatedsuiliciently vby any other means, such iiuid element will give off suicient steam or vapor to moisthe case may be, the temperature being deterten the grain to be treated suiiiciently', so that no other or additional moisture will be needed.

In this method the Huid element will absorb the fumes or sulfurous gas forced through it until the point is reached beyond which it cannot absorb any more, at which point the fumes will pass through the iluid element without losing any of their strength or volume. Still the iuid element will be just as complete a protection against lire being carried from the furnace or conduit pipe to the stack A or the building or theI grain to be treated (a possibility claimed by some insurance people in the old style of construction, where the fumes were not passed through a ilnid)as though we were using the sul."ur-impregna .ted fluid for moisture and constantly changing such fluid element. v i jf f 1. The process'of treating grain, which comprises subjecting the grain to the action of a mixture of fumes which have been passed through a iiui'd element, and vapor which has been generated from said fluid element.

2. The process of treating grain which comcontaining the grain to be treated.

prises injecting sulfurous fumes against grain 25,2

cially treated with moisture impregnated 'j 5. gThe process of treating grain, which corn- .,-,Il an incIOSure; said grain having been super- 6. 'The process of treatinggrain, which comf rises Generating sulfu rous fumes, conducting said sulfurousfumes through water, spraying the'grain lwith Water. throughwhich the sulfurous fumes have passed, and treating the grain'to the fumes Which-have passed through the Water.v y

7. The process of treatinggrain, which comprises conducting sulfurous fumes through a 1u`id"element, spraying the grain with said fluid element, and treating the grain with the sulfurou's fumes whichhave passed through the fluid element. l

8. The process of treating grain, which comprises generating sulfurous fumes, forcing the same through a comparatively cool'uid element, spraying the grain with a spray com- 'posed in partof the iuid been treated with sulfurous fumes, and

element through have passed, and the action of said sulfurous fumes which have passed through the cooling Huid element. L

9. The process of treating grain, which consists in continuouslyy passing the grain through a closed vertical stack. generatingl sulfurous fumes, forcing said sulfurous fumes through a comparatively cool body of water, conducting" said fumes which have passed through the water into said stack, and spraying the grain with a spray composed in part of the. water through which the sulfu rous fumes have passed.

V 10. The process of treating grain, which comprises generating 4sulfurous fumes, diluting the same-Withcontrollable quantities'oi' air, forcing the mixture of fumes and air through which the sulfurous fumes also subjecting the grain to a body of comparatively cool Huid element and then into an i-ncl be treated, and through which said inclosure, the grain.

' 11. The process of treating grain, which consists in causing the grain tocontinuously pass through a closed vertical stack, generating sulfurous fumes, forcing,- the sulfurous fumes throiigh 'a comparatively cool body of water and then into the treating-stack, injecting a osure containing the grain to injecting the Huid element. the fumes have passed, into so as to superiicially moisten ducting the water through which the f umes have passed to a point adjacent to the Jet of steam, so that the grain withinthe stack shalll` be subjected to a ,moistening-spray composed v 8 I i in part of the A water through which the fumes have passed.

HARRY Qi.: CALDWELL. JAMES R. BARR.

Witnesses: i

S..B. HoUsnR,

W. B. FoWLER.

75 jet of'steam into-said treating-stack, and con- 

